Health concerns from consumption of high levels of fat, particularly in ground meat is pushing the consumers to obtain ground lean cuts of meat significantly lower in fat content than normal cuts of meat. A major drawback in the use of lean meat is the dryness of the cooked meat (not juicy) and its lacking of the eating quality of regular products of higher fat content. If highly moisturized ground meats can be obtained after cooking, the fat content can be effectively reduced and provide a highly desirable and high quality ground meat product especially after cooking. To provide these results, much effort has gone into attempted solutions with insufficient successes to provide a high quality, highly moisturized cooked meat product. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,202,907 entitled "Sausage Products Having Improved Properties and Methods of Producing Same" there is a description of the use of non-reversible gels formed in sausage and meatball products during cooking by the reaction of enzyme activated sodium caseinate and calcium ion to provide improved organoleptic properties and retain fat and moisture within the cooked product. Another U.S. Pat. No. 4,382,098 entitled "Sausage Emulsions Containing Gluconate Salts and Process of Preparation" describes the improved emulsifying and water binding properties of sausage by incorporating therein, as a partial replacement for sodium chloride, a salt system comprising calcium or sodium gluconate in combination with an alkaline phosphate. These U.S. patents were interested in improving the physical properties such as having a firmer texture or producing a product having improved emulsifying characteristics.
In this invention, a simple but effective method is described not only to improve the moisture content of the ground meat product, cooked or uncooked, but to provide an improved ground meat product having exceptionally eating qualities. In co-pending patent applications, commonly assigned, as the present application, U.S. Ser. No. 704,500, filed May 23, 1991, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,149,551, and U.S. Ser. No. 811,192 filed Dec. 21, 1991 a finely divided special type of calcium citrate is described as an anticaking agent for dry fructose-containing beverages in the first mentioned patent application and this special type of calcium citrate is also described in the second mentioned patent application as useful for opacifying and whitening aqueous food compositions. It has been discovered that this special calcium citrate added to ground meats provided improved moisture retention especially on cooking as well as providing a calcium additive to the ground meat products.